How to get early access with the League of Legends PBE

Esports and Tech Writer

Publish Date: July 7, 2024

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For any fans who want to test out new gameplay changes early, the League of Legends PBE is the place for them to be.

Riot Games releases league patches approximately twice a month. These patches come with everything ranging from minor bug fixes and rebalancing to rotating the mythic shop content and even adding new champions. However, the complexity of LoL means that even small changes have massive knock-on effects. To help the issue, Riot has created the Public Beta Environment system. This is a separate version of League of Legends where players can test future changes before they go live.

Players who want a sneak peek can download the League of Legends PBE and play for free.

What is the League of Legends PBE?

The LoL Public Beta Environment, or PBE, is a developer-designed space where players can try out patch updates ahead of their official release.

Much like in the main game, Riot developers match players into queues and encourage regular play. Some features may make it into League while others are seen in the PBE and then never again. All current PBE testing add-ons can be found here.

Riot has four main guidelines for how players can aid in patch development.

Play like normal so developers can find any major performance issues
Complete a daily PBE mission, after which players earn 3,000 RP to spend in the PBE store for the latest item
Give any feedback or problems either through the subreddit, Discord, or dedicated bug-reporting site
Stick to the League Code of Conduct

League of Legends PBE example special quest

One recent playtest example is the rollout of the new PVE mode Swarm: Operation Anima Squad, a survival game where champions fight waves of Primordians. Overall, the feedback has been positive, leaving many excited for the official release.

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While none of the points or items roll over into regular League, early trial access is enough for many. Additionally, every player needs to make their own account at risk of suspension.

Interested players can sign up for the League of Legends PBE through the official Riot website.

Players can access the Public Beta Environment through the site here, with no need for a separate client anymore. All they need is a free-to-create PBE account and log in to the usual Riot client with that account information. From there, players are able to join the League of Legends PBE community.

League of Legends PBE client screen.

Patches are released Mondays through Fridays between 11:30 and 1 pm PST. This is also when the developer team performs maintenance or drops items not included in patches.